1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a BIOS switching system and a method thereof; in particular, to a BIOS switching system with a memory unit that stores a plurality of BIOS's and a method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
A basic input output system (BIOS) is very important for the majority of computer systems, and therefore the setting and update of a BIOS requires careful testing, so as to ensure the correct completion of the boot-up procedure. This careful testing is especially important for various computer products (such as notebook computers), and prior to leaving a factory, there will be multiple factory tests for the BIOS, so that the products will function normally once arriving at the hands of the consumers.
However during the process of testing or setting of the BIOS, errors may occur upon BIOS update, so that the BIOS can not function normally, and such a problem subsequently leads to the malfunctioning of the entire computer system. Furthermore, there may be a need to load various BIOS's with different settings during the process of BIOS testing so that these BIOS's need to be interchanged for testing. Thus, there is need for selecting and switching between multiple BIOS's.
In the prior art backup BIOS usage is described, which stores BIOS's in different storage locations within a computer system, wherein the BIOS in one storage location acts as primary BIOS, and the BIOS on the other storage location acts as backup BIOS, so that when the primary BIOS fails to function or is not operational, then the backup BIOS is read from the other storage location.
However, storing BIOS's on different storage locations increases the hardware cost of the computer system; furthermore, for the computer system of a given product that is being tested at the production line prior to leaving factory, there is need to switch between BIOS's for testing purposes, so that it is not always practical to wait for a failure before switching BIOS. The technical solutions of the prior lack flexibility in terms of practical applications.